


you're sensational

by sterollarke



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 16:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20696384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sterollarke/pseuds/sterollarke
Summary: A soulmate AU where your soulmate's name shows up on your wrist on your sixteenth birthday.Cheryl had no fucking clue if Antoinette was an actual name, but the confirmation that the universe had someone out there for her - well she'd never grinned so hard in her life.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Just an FYI: In this fic, I made Cheryl and Jason the same age as everyone else. Also, Betty is the older sister in this fic, Polly is a year younger.

On everyone's sixteenth birthday, right at the dot of midnight, a name pops up on their wrists.

This was known as a soulmate. Your other half. The person you are destined to be with.

Of course, having a name on your wrist doesn't guarantee a happy ending. Even the universe could not predict everything. It's not like the universe would know that there's more than one person named "John" that a person will fall in love with in their lifetime. Nor would it know that a soulmate would be engaged to the other soulmate's brother. Nor would the universe understand the concept of homophobia and racism back in the 1900s, which would be an obstacle, if not a barrier, between soulmates and their happiness.

However, the universe knew that those two people, in another life, would be madly in love with each other. That they'd never want to be apart. That, in a perfect world, those two soulmates would just make sense.

The universe plays a part in finding soulmates. However, it's always up to those two people themselves to actually fall in love with each other. It's up to them to decide whether they want to be together. It's up to them to accept their soulmates.

So, really, the concept of soulmates were nothing but a mindfuck of their own. It fucks with people's lives and happiness. It causes people to try and fall in love with a person who may not be good for them. It causes people to stop trusting their own instincts and just focus on whatever bullshit name popped up on their wrist. Because, of course, the universe knows best. It's not like the universe and fate ever fucked with anyone. It's not like free will exists, right?

So of course, Toni despised the idea of soulmates. And she had made a decision a while ago to never pay mind to soulmarks. If she wanted to be with someone, she can decide that for her own self, thank you very much. And she doesn't feel compelled to fall in love with whatever bullshit soulmate the universe gives her.

If she decides to be with her soulmate, she will. If she decides to be with someone else, she will.

It'll be _her_ decision, purely. The universe can go fuck itself for all she cares.


	2. The Birthday

She woke up with a deep fear blooming in her chest.

It’s not like it wasn’t a new sensation for her. Obviously, she’d been waking up like that for a few weeks now, but it all felt the same.

And today was even worse.

Because at midnight, she’d be getting a soulmark.

It’s not like she was unfamiliar to the whole thing. And it’s not like she hated the idea of soulmates either – being destined to be with someone sounded quite romantic and sweet to her, as a child and as a sixteen-year-old.

But, of course, she was scared to death.

Because if the universe truly had someone out there for her… she’d be getting a girl’s name on her wrist tonight.

She’s only attracted to girls, she’s known for sure since she met Heather. But her mother and father…. they’d kill her if they found out. They’d send her away. Wouldn’t leave anything for her in their will. Perhaps lock her in a room.

So of course, tonight will be the most terrifying fucking night of her life.

“Cheryl!” A knock at her door startled her. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes before sitting up in her bed, trying to stop overthinking everything. “Can I come in?” Cheryl’s twin brother, Jason, asks.

“Uh sure, come in!” she did her best to disguise her voice as excited and chirpy.

He slowly opens the door, his usual grin seeming even wider today. “Want some pancakes?”

Cheryl quirks an eyebrow. “Who’s making them?”

“Me, duh. I’m in a good mood today.”

She smiles, nodding excitedly. Next to Pop’s, Jason’s pancakes were her favorite.

He nods but lingers in the doorway, making no move to leave.

With a sigh, she takes the hint and asks him. “Yes?”

“I-well, we’re getting soulmates!” he blurts out immediately. “I mean, Cheryl! We’re going to know who we’re supposed to end up with today! We’ll get to see who the universe has in store for us! And – fuck, I’m excited.”

Cheryl fakes a chuckle and sighs. “Me too, Jay-Jay,” she lies.

* * *

_11:55 pm_

“Only five minutes left!” Jason nudges Cheryl playfully.

She tried to smile at him but all she could manage was a weird grimace. She gripped the mug of hot chocolate tighter and took a sip, ignoring the sting she felt on her tongue from burning it about ten minutes ago.

Her mother and father were asleep. Before they had gone to bed, they had told Cheryl and Jason that they’ll ask about their soulmates tomorrow because they couldn’t afford to stay up when they had to set up for the dinner party they’d planned for the twins’ birthdays tomorrow. Cheryl was grateful for it since it gave her time to come up with a plan on how to deal with her soulmark.

Cheryl and Jason were seated in the living room and had on an old episode of Friends on the TV to kill the time. They were both drinking their hot cocoa and were glancing at the clock next to the television periodically.

Suddenly Jason clears his throat. “Hey, Cheryl?”

“Hmm?” Cheryl manages to tear away her eyes from Courtney Cox’s smoking body to meet Jason’s eyes.

He gives her a hesitant smile. “Whatever name pops up on your wrist tonight….I’ll protect you from whatever Mom and Dad say, okay? Or I’ll help hide whatever’s there. Or whatever you decide, just know that I’m here for you. I’ll help you, alright?”

She blinks a couple of times before it dawns on her that he _knows_. In a way, she should have seen it coming, he’s the only person who truly understands her and knows her better than anyone else ever does.

She couldn’t help but tear up at that. “Thanks, Jay-Jay.”

He pats her knee assuredly before turning back to the TV. She glances back at the clock to check the time. Three minutes left.

Monica and Chandler’s fight about his smoking doesn’t manage to distract her anymore. Cheryl starts thinking about her soulmate again. While the idea of soulmates is romantic and enchanting to her, it’s not always a fairytale. Having a soulmate doesn’t necessarily mean that two people will end up happy together. In fact, she’d already heard so many instances where that didn’t happen.

Like FP Jones and Alice Cooper, for example. The whole town knows that they’d both had each other as soulmates but they had gotten married to different people – and had kids with them. And now they couldn’t even stand each other.

Hermione Lodge had Fred Andrews as her soulmate, too. But she wasn’t Fred’s soulmate. He had Mary’s name on his wrist. While they had dated, and were in love, they couldn’t make it work. Fred and Mary were in love, and their love was too strong for Hermione to fight for a chance with her soulmate. But even now, Fred and Mary were currently separated. And Hermione was married to Hiram Lodge, who had just gotten out of prison.

Even Tom Keller and Sierra McCoy, whose story Cheryl’s mother had told her one time when drunk on wine. They were high school sweethearts who had each other as soulmates. Everyone had thought they’d end up together. But because of the racial tension at that time, they couldn’t make it work. They were with other people, too, but it seemed like they’d never gotten over each other. And now it was too late, and there was too much history for it to work out again.

Hell, look at Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper. While Cheryl will accept that they’re young, their situation is already kind of alarming enough. They both had each other as soulmates but weren’t in love at all. They were even dating different people. Archie was with Veronica, who had two names on her wrist – Reggie Mantle and Archie Andrews. And Betty was with Jughead, who didn’t even have a soulmark.

With that thought, Cheryl immediately tenses up. There were a few instances where people didn’t get soulmarks either. While Jughead was the first person from their generation to end up with that situation, that didn’t mean it didn’t happen in other towns or in adults. She knew that Hal Cooper didn’t have a soulmark. Neither did Hiram Lodge.

Perhaps she’d be one of those people.

“One minute left!” Jason calls out, putting his empty mug down on the coffee table and rubbing his hands together excitedly.

Cheryl was frightened for another reason now.

Perhaps the universe decided that she wasn’t good enough for a soulmate. Because, of course – why would the universe decide to take mercy on her now? This was the final nail in the coffin, telling her that she wasn’t worth anything to anyone.

Cheryl glanced up at the clock. Thirty seconds.

She could already imagine what would happen tomorrow morning. Her mother and father finding out that she hadn’t gotten a name on her wrist, while Jason got a rich, beautiful girl’s name on his.

“Cheryl.”

She’d get cast aside on her own birthday, at the dinner, while Jason was celebrated and loved.

“Hello, Cheryl!”

She’d go to bed at night, upset and lonely as always, without a soulmark to look at and comfort her.

“Hey, earth to Cheryl!” Jason snaps his fingers in her face, bringing her out of her misery.

“Huh?” she clears her throat.

“It’s time! Look at your wrist!”

She blinks a few times and glances at the clock. Sure enough, it’s midnight. She closes her eyes before taking a deep breath to look down at her wrists. Pulling up the sleeves of her sweater, she expects nothing to be there.

What shocks her is to see big black letters spelling out a name she’d never heard before.

Antoinette.

_Antoinette?_

She couldn’t breathe properly.

She has a soulmate. A female soulmate, judging by the way the name sounded.

What the fuck is an Antoinette?

“Antoinette,” she slowly sounds it out, her gaze still transfixed on her mark. She feels Jason look over her shoulder at her wrist but barely pays him any attention.

She has a _soulmate_.

“That’s …. a long name,” Jason chuckles.

Cheryl had no fucking clue if Antoinette was an actual name, but the confirmation that the universe had someone out there for her - well she'd never grinned so hard in her life.

“I have a soulmate,” she whispers with absolute awe.

“Yeah, me too.” Cheryl finally looks up in time to see Jason holding up his wrist.

_Polly_.

“Polly? As in Polly Cooper?” Cheryl gasps in disbelief. The Coopers and Blossoms had an infamous feud with each other. Her parents absolutely despised Hal and Alice Cooper. When Cheryl entered preschool and started talking to Betty Cooper, she was absolutely ecstatic that she made a new friend. However, when she told her mother about her, her mother insisted to never speak with any member of the Cooper family again. Thus, Cheryl had never spoken to Betty after that, even pushed her into a sandbox once when Betty asked her to play tag at recess. However, she doubted that Betty felt the loss of a friend since she met Archie Andrews shortly after.

Jason shakes his head, worriedly. “God, I hope not. Maybe it’s another Polly. Mom and Dad will never be okay with a Cooper as a soulmate.”

Cheryl bites her lip. “Maybe you can hide it. I think that’s what I’m going to do, too.”

He scoffs. “You think Mom and Dad will believe that both of us didn’t get soulmates?”

She shrugs. “It could work! Veronica Lodge got two soulmates! And Jughead Jones didn’t get a soulmate either. Not to mention-”

“Cheryl,” Jason interrupts her. “We’re not like those losers, alright? It’s okay. I can handle mine. You’ll have to find a way to hide yours though.”

Cheryl hesitates before she gives in, nodding. “Sure. Don’t worry, Jason. I’m here for you, too.”

“You know what’s weird though? Usually soulmarks are written in black. Mine is gray. It seems faded, almost?”

She looks at his wrist again and notes that he’s right. Whereas her soulmark is written clearly in dark letters, his is a bit faded, not enough that it wasn’t legible, but enough to raise questions.

“Maybe because Polly is still fifteen? Maybe when she turns sixteen, it’ll be black. Or if it’s a different Polly, maybe something is wrong with her,” she offers, having no clue whether she was right or not.

He sighs. “God, I hope nothing’s wrong with my soulmate.”

“There’s probably not! I’m sure you aren’t the only person with a grayish soulmark. Maybe it’s just something unique.”

Jason cracks a smile. “Maybe. Unique, huh? Like your soulmate’s name?”

Cheryl couldn’t help but blush. As expected, her gaze fell on her wrist again. “Yeah, I guess so.”

_Antoinette, I can’t wait to meet you._

* * *

The next morning, Cheryl had woken up earlier than expected, just in time to bump into her father before he went off to talk with the caterers. He asked about the soulmark, but she had told him – just like her and Jason practiced – that she didn’t get one. She acted upset and said she didn’t want to talk about it to anyone, covering her wrist up with a thick, red wristband. As expected, her father just shrugged and didn’t ask. It’s not like he gave a shit about her feelings. And for once, she appreciated it.

She practically skipped towards the kitchen, feeling giddy as ever yet strangely nervous. God, she was thrilled. She couldn’t wait for the day that she meets her soulmate. She spent the whole night searching up what the meaning of the name Antoinette was, if there was any Antoinette’s in Riverdale (there was but she died three years ago) and thought of possible scenarios on where she’d meet her. Perhaps at a family vacation? Maybe she’d be a new student at school? Or maybe later in college, where she’d be away from her parents and would be able to be with her soulmate for real.

The more she thought about it, the more butterflies she got. She didn’t even notice her mother standing three feet behind her, watching as Cheryl hummed to herself as she poured herself a glass of apple juice.

“So, have you gotten your soulmark then?” Penelope Blossom asks, breaking Cheryl out of her daydreaming.

She immediately puts the bottle of juice down and self-consciously touches her wristband. “I….well, actually-”

“I can’t imagine any other reason why you’d be skipping and dancing around like that. Come, show me your mark. Let’s hope it’s a suitable man to marry in the future.” She beckons her daughter to come closer.

“Well, I didn’t get a soulmark. I-I don’t have a soulmate. I already told-”

“Excuse me?” Penelope scoffs, stepping closer to her, making Cheryl instinctively step back. “There’s no way that you do not have a soulmark. It is extremely rare and unacceptable for a Blossom. Who’s your soulmate? What are you hiding?”

“I already told you, I don’t have a soulmate! I-I can’t exactly just force myself to get one!” she practically shrieks as she gets cornered against the counter with her mother directly in front of her.

“Show me your hand,” Penelope demands, her eyes sharp and threatening.

“But, mother-”

“Show it to me, _now_.” She grips her daughter’s face with a silent threat evident in her face.

Cheryl had no choice but to hold her arm up.

Penelope yanked the wristband up to reveal the mark that Cheryl spent hours tracing last night and reads it out loud. “Antoinette.”

She swallowed and looked down, avoiding her mother’s glare.

“That sounds like a girl’s name,” Penelope hisses.

Cheryl doesn’t answer.

“Is that it then? You were skipping around because you like having a female as a soulmate? You enjoy being a disgrace to our family?” she grips her wrist tighter, causing Cheryl to whimper in pain.

“You will never reveal this to anyone, you hear me? Never! If I ever hear any stories about you with a girl, I will take you to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy and will get your soulmark removed.”

At that, Cheryl’s head snapped up in fear. “No,” she chokes out. Removing a soulmark is a painful experience that leaves a terrible scar on your skin and in your heart. People say it’s like removing the liveliest piece of your soul and trying to live with the dark parts of yourself. No one can remove a soulmark and live a happy life after. The Sisters of Quiet Mercy still do the procedure, along with other terrible things, since they don’t get checked out by law enforcement. They hide it well but due to the fact that Cheryl’s mother has strong ties to them, she’s one of the only teenagers in Riverdale who knows about their crimes.

Penelope leans in closer, her words dripping with hate. “Always keep your mark covered. You will not speak to anyone about it today, tomorrow, _ever_. I mean it.”

“Okay, I won’t!” Cheryl practically sobs, finally noticing the tears that escaped her eyes.

Her mother nods and lets go of her, stepping away from Cheryl, giving her a chance to breathe. “Be ready by 6.” As if nothing happened, she walks away, on her way to complete whatever task awaited her.

Cheryl looked down at her mark, noticing a bruise forming on where the name was. Another tear escapes from her eyes, dropping on her arm.

She covers it with her wristband, making her decision. She’d never let anyone see it. She’d never be with a girl until she got to go to college. She’ll pretend to be the girl that her parents want her to be.

Her soulmate will wait for her, she’s sure of it.


End file.
